Change at top of Fortune called "abrupt" and a "lightning bolt"

Katherine Seelye of the New York Times wrote about Andy Serwer replacing Eric Pooley as the managing editor of Fortune magazine in Wednesday’s paper, and she termed the change as “abrupt.”

Seelye quoted Serwer about when he found out about the change: “I found out about it a couple of days ago,â€? he said. “It was a surprise to me that John wanted me to do this job.â€? He added that Mr. Huey “has a way of making surprising moves sometimes.â€? John Huey is Time Inc. editor in chief.

Later, Seelye wrote, “Mr. Huey announced the change at a hastily called staff meeting yesterday. People who were there said they were stunned. They said they perceived Mr. Pooley, who took over as managing editor in April 2005, as a strong advocate for long-form journalism and a rigorous if sometimes over-involved editor. The McKinsey consulting firm has been examining efficiencies at the magazine.”

Read more here.

Meanwhile, Keith Kelly of the New York Post wrote that one Fortune staff member called the change “a lightning bolt out of the blue.”

Kelly wrote, “Pooley had little hard-nosed business experience, and his style was said to have rankled the closely knit staff. Many began voting with their feet: Editor-at-Large Joe Nocera, who himself had hoped one day to run the magazine, last year jumped to the New York Times as a columnist. Another star writer, Dan Roth, jumped to Portfolio, the new Condé Nast business title slated to launch next year.

“Pooley, who was seen as aloof and detached, frequently worked behind closed doors. At one point in February, he called the staff together to do a public mea culpa, and pledged a more open policy.”

Read more here.

Meanwhile, Serwer’s skills as a business journalist were called into question by reporting done by Stephanie Smith at Women’s Wear Daily.

Smith wrote, “Serwer, who said Huey approached him ‘a few days ago’ for the position, lacks editing experience, save for a stint editing front-of-book pieces for Fortune a decade ago when Huey was its managing editor, nor has he managed a staff of any size. Moreover, his columns and features for the title were considered fluffy by many of his peers (one said his column read like it resulted from making one phone call) and sources close to the magazine heard Huey gripe about Serwer’s inability to write big middle-of-the-book features in his early years. ‘He’s everywhere and has done a great job with the brand of Andy Serwer,’ sniped one business journalist, who described Serwer’s columns as ‘bad jokes behind Wall Street and basketball.'”

Read more here.